The recent purchase of a new $100 million plane for President Bola Tinubu has sparked anger among Nigerians, exacerbating feelings of a government disconnected from the daily realities of the people as the country endures its worst economic crisis in decades.
For many Nigerians struggling with soaring prices and widespread poverty, the sight of the gleaming new Airbus A330 on the tarmac in Nice, France, was a bitter blow.
“They are asking us to tighten our belts while he wastes money on a jet,” wrote one frustrated citizen on social media. Another added: “This purchase shows how disconnected the president is from the plight of Nigerians.”
Former education minister Oby Ezekwesili condemned the purchase of the plane as a symbol of the government’s “fiscal irresponsibility and dishonesty.”
However, a presidential spokesman defended the decision, saying the plane was purchased at a bargain price on the advice of the Senate security committee.
With Nigeria facing soaring inflation and about 40 percent of its population living in poverty, the expensive purchase has further fueled frustration and disillusionment among many citizens.
The cost of living crisis that has fueled the protests is the worst in a generation in the oil-rich and most populous African country, which is expected to become the world’s third most populous by 2050, on par with the United States after India and China.
The crisis is largely blamed on the government’s cost-cutting and investor-friendly economic policies, which have helped push the inflation rate to a record high of 34.19 percent, while the currency, the naira, is at historically low levels against the dollar. At least 63 percent of the population lives in poverty.
The government is struggling to create jobs, and the world’s longest war against insurgency continues in the country’s northeast.
Despite its oil wealth, more than 210 million Nigerians are among the world’s hungriest, accounting for 10 percent of the global burden, according to the U.N. food agency. Yet its politicians, often accused of corruption, are among the highest paid in Africa.